Posted on 03/22/2011 3:50:00 PM PDT by SmithL
North Carolina's present-day lawmakers are deciding whether to pass judgment on a decision by their Reconstruction-era predecessors 140 years ago to impeach and kick out a governor whose chief offense stemmed from stopping Ku Klux Klan violence during the turbulent years after the Civil War.
In a move that could compel legislators to confront the state's racist past, the Senate wants to debate this week a resolution pardoning the late Republican Gov. William Woods Holden, who became the first governor removed from office in the United States on March 22, 1871.
Holden's impeachment took place months after Democrats — the party that had favored Secession and the formation of the Confederacy — took back control of the statehouse from Republicans, the party of Lincoln. Republicans did not take charge of the North Carolina Senate again until this year.
Democrats were angry with Holden for bringing in a state militia to quell a Klan insurrection that killed newly-freed slaves and other Republicans, both black and white.
The House approved eight impeachment articles against him, including several for jailing Klan supporters without due process rights. The Senate convicted him on six of the articles following a seven-week trial and removed him from office.
In 1876, years after his impeachment, Holden said he acted "purely as a defensive measure to save human life and to protect and secure free suffrage to all."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Boy! I sure am glad I was sittin’ down when I read this.....whew!
DemoRats would maliciously prosecute a Republican? Who knew?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Woods_Holden
Governor Holden made a serious effort to support everybody at one time or another. Originally a Whig, he became a Democrat and then a Republican, was pro-slavery before he became anti-slavery, supported the Confederacy and then the Union, yet voted for secession. Then he criticized the confederate governor, and became the governor during Reconstruction.
Well, after all these years of having been impeached, he will probably do yet another flip-flop and be pardoned. He’s probably still trying to figure out whether to go to Hell or Heaven.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
I’m sure glad we have a Republican majority now in the North Carolina state legislature tackling the pressing issues of the day!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.